The four-day gathering, to be held July 27 to 30, started in 2006 with 1,500 attendees and ballooned to more than 53,000 last year. Mike Broder, president of Super Conventions (parent company of Florida Supercon), blames construction at the Miami Beach Convention Center, which has long called the convention home: “Despite the challenges with construction, the Miami Beach Convention Center has been a great partner. We are also grateful to Fort Lauderdale for welcoming us with wide open arms during this challenging time."

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Last year's event advertised such luminaries as William Shatner as well as cast members from Deadpool, Doctor Who, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones,Star Wars, and the 1982 sci-fi movie Tron. But part of the event was squeezed into the Miami facility's Jackie Gleason theater, which caused multiple complaints.

The deal in Fort Lauderdale will last for two years. It will fill all three floors of the convention center just south of downtown. The main exhibition space, which covers 190,000 square feet, will host hundreds of exhibitors, vendors, craftspeople, publishers, artists, and writers. There will also be a Hall of Fame area for autographs and a main events stage with 2,500 seats for celebrity interviews and more.

Super Conventions had already moved two other events to the convention center from the Miami Airport Convention Center, Animate Florida (planned for September 16) and Paradise City Comic Con (which drew 19000 people last December. “We ran out of space in that building, and we wanted a more modern facility,” Broder says.

Correction: This article has been updated to reflect the correct date of Animate Florida.

Chuck Strouse is editor-in-chief of Miami New Times. He has shared in two Pulitzer Prizes and won dozens of other state local and national awards. He is an honors graduate of Brown University and has worked at multiple newspapers including the Miami Herald, Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel and Los Angeles Times.